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| Program 3 |
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| SF BALLET 2008 75TH ANNIVERSARY |
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| information for research and entertainment and is a collection of thing s that anyone can find using Google. |
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| Giselle is a ballet from the Romantic period. In the first act, a young, innocent village maiden named Giselle is in love with a man she knows only as Loys. In reality, the man is Albrecht, a nobleman disguised as a peasant, , and who is betrothed to Bathilde, daughter of the Duke. When Giselle discovers the deceit, she is inconsolable and goes mad, then dies of a broken heart. In the second act, her undying love for Albrecht saves him from the wicked magic of the wilis, vengeful ghosts of betrothed girls who have died before their wedding day. Though their leader, Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, forces Albrecht to dance again and again, Giselle intervenes long enough to spare his strength and allow him to survive until the dawn./ Source |
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| CriticalDance Program 3 2005 |
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| CriticalDance Program 3 2008 |
| Full Length - Giselle / last performed in 2005 Composer: Adolphe Adam Choreography: Helgi Tomasson after Marius Petipa, Jules Perrot, Jean Coralli |
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| In physicality and temperament, Tan is hardly a dancer you'd typecast as the title role's rustic peasant girl - .. But the bigger problem was that Giselle must be a flesh-and-blood character, and Tan didn't seem to have thought out who, beyond a pretty flirt, her Giselle was./ (or) she was Giselle herself - playful, lovely, romantic at first, literally heartbroken upon betrayal, becoming a selfless, forgiving, guardian angel in the end. Helimets may have the makings of an affecting Albrecht, hindered by Tan's fakeness. His acting was low-key but natural. But the revelation Saturday was Sofiane Sylve as Myrtha, the queen of those vengeful dead women. Myrtha must be commanding, and Sylve made her so in the decisive snap of her head as she hopped in that accusing arabesque. But in those drilled steps, in that distrusting face, you could see something deeper: a distant hurt driving her fearsomeness, a weakness beneath the strength. ../ (or) Sofiane Sylve's flawless Myrtha all that but on the cold side. Sure, the role demands a meanie, but still ... Absent a compelling mad scene, the peasant pas de cinq stole the show in Act 1. Frenchmen Pascal Molat and Nicolas Blanc make quite a virtuosic pair: Molat reckless, Blanc refined. Clara Blanco and Elizabeth Miner were well matched in pert graciousness, while big and bold Frances Chung is a force apart...(No mention of Damian Smith?).or Damian Smith's Hilarion and Anita Paciotti's Berthe were classical and restrained/ SFGate Review / Examiner Review (Side note: Maria Kochetkova did the Final Dress Rehearsal with Joan Boada and he was so moved by her performance that his face was streaming with tears. Katia Waldo was definative as head Willie, Pascal Molat transformed the role of Hilarion (Garret Anderson replaced him in pas de cinq was also great with the other 4 the same) "You could see how much trust she was putting in her Albrecht, and just how dangerous and exhilarating that trust was." Rachel Howard The first act was pure drama, and rightly so, Kochetkova's technique unostentatious--even her fleet jumps seemed an expression of Giselle's irrepressible joy in dancing, not feats for their own sake. Surprisingly, Kochetkova does not have a huge arabesque penchee to dazzle us with, but in the second act, she called on that buoyant jump again, a benevolent wisp in the air on that series of changements with one foot in coupe. Meanwhile, Boada was in good form with beautiful feet and a stretch that reaches well beyond his small proportions. He was an extravagantly penitent Albrecht, replacing the fluttering beaten jumps that so pierced the heart in Tiit Helimets' interpretation with an odd run of frenzied brisees. In Kochetkova's final moments, she gazed upon Albrecht lovingly, but she did not shake in protest of their separation. She accepted it--and everything: his betrayal of her, his penitence. This was not a tragic final parting, but a bittersweet one. It seemed to me perfectly in character. And it made this performance of "Giselle" one I will never forget. Kochetkova and Boada will dance "Giselle" again Saturday evening. I'll be back at the opera house on Friday to see Vanessa Zahorian and Ruben Martin (rplaced by Tiit Helimets)./ Review-Cast 3 |
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| Tan claimed Maffre's terrain Saturday, proving to be a stunning actress of womanly depth and musical subtlety and inhabiting the mid-19th century role with complete assurance...She and Helimets, whose own beats and leaps were deliciously spongey, were supported by stunning demi-soloists and a company in fine if not always purely classical form ensconced in a set designed with simple fairy-tale elegance (sets, costumes and lighting by Mikael Melbye). Nicholas Blanc and Pascal Molat singed the air in the Peasant Pas de Cinq with their bravura jumps, pump-action turns and nearly out-of-control landings. Clara Blanco, Elizabeth Miner and Frances Chung were a lovely if more demure grouping, picking up and elaborating on Giselle's vocabulary of leaps, hops and turns...Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, is often danced with the burning cold intensity of liquid nitrogen, but visiting artist Sofiane Sylve danced with an intriguingly sad warmth and implacable will. / Review Thursday�s cast was headed by Kristin Long and Gennadi Nedvigin, the only one of this season�s four couples to have danced these roles in the 2005 revival...Long�s success lies in her phrasing. She interprets the protagonist in extended sequences that seem shaped by the music. Long avoids histrionic extremes, yet, in Act I, she succeeds in communicating Giselle�s fragile emotional state, without descending into melodrama. In the forest scene, her essential goodness encircles Albrecht in the most deft of gestures. There is much to admire in Long�s elevation and even turns, but every moment seems to serve the character...I remain awed by Nedvigin�s refinement and technical assurance. The whizzing entrechats in the Act II variations speak for themselves and so does the way the dancer gestures at Giselle�s house in Act I. But somehow, it doesn�t add up beyond the details...On Thursday, characterization was no problem for Molly Smolen�s first SFB Myrtha. Lightness, rather than implacability marked the impressive jumps and bourr�es, and the gestural language was clear and decisive. Pascal Molat was luxurious casting for Hilarion, but the dancer treated "the other guy" as if it were a major assignment, edged with nastiness. Myrtha�s two lieutenants (Moyna and Zulma in the original libretto) found airy interpreters in Clara Blanco and Elizabeth Miner. These women joined Sarah Van Patten, Garrett Anderson and Nicolas Blanc for an energetic peasant quintet in the first act, where Pauli Magierek�s Bathilde fused hauteur and empathy. Paul Ehrlich was the viola soloist in Act II. Music director Martin West did all humanly possible in the pit./ VOD Review-Cast 4 |
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